


In which Elijah Burke Has Decided Nell Caffrey Is His Daughter

by Bam4Me



Series: What Could Have Been [1]
Category: White Collar
Genre: Always Female Neal, Always Male Elizabeth, Bisexual Peter, Cisswap, First of a series, Gay Elizabeth, Gen, Genderswap, Lesbian Neal, This covers the first season in a small way, canon character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-30
Updated: 2017-04-30
Packaged: 2018-10-25 19:56:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10771341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bam4Me/pseuds/Bam4Me
Summary: And Peter Is Still Fighting It All The Way To The End





	In which Elijah Burke Has Decided Nell Caffrey Is His Daughter

**Author's Note:**

> I have ALWAYS wanted to do White Collar genderswap for some reason, but I usually just go with Neal to Nell, but like, the other day I was sitting here and I was all, 'lol, what if Peter was married to a man?... fuck i hav to write it...' and that's how this was born. I just REALLY want a thing.
> 
> gayestblogthesite.tumblr.com

The first time Elijah Burke had met Nell Caffrey, he was in the kitchen making coffee when he heard Peter coming crashing down the stairs while he yelled at someone over the phone. “Honey, I have to go, Nell is out of her radius.”

 

Elijah gave his husband a wide eyed stare as Peter tried to put on a tie while still arguing with someone, when there was a knock on the door. He scooted around the fumbling FBI agent and held Satchmo back from attacking the door as he opened it up, and was immediately assaulted by a small person holding out a coffee tray and a bag of something that smelled like breakfast.

 

“Peter, I… holy shit you’re tall, who are you?”

 

That at least, got Peter’s attention behind them, and Peter nearly dropped his phone before angrily gritting out that Nell was with him and hanging up on whoever it was that had called. “Nell, what are you doing at my house?”

 

She wriggled around Elijah -not a hard feet, seeing as there was almost a foot of space between the top of her head and his- and thrust out the coffee and bag towards Peter this time. “I brought you coffee and breakfast. Why is your husband that tall? I’m offended at having to crane my neck this much while looking at someone.”

 

Elijah hid a grin behind his hand, though Peter could hear him laughing, which oddly enough, made him slightly less annoyed at his new CI. He sighed, accepting the coffee and bag from the girl and ushering them all into the kitchen so Elijah could go back to trying to feed the dog. “Don’t most girl under five foot six wear heels?”

 

Nell shrugged. “I know some women are all, ‘badass girls learn to run in heels’ but it’s utter bullshit. I mean, I probably could learn, but that’s one broken ankle I don’t want to repeat. Can I pet your dog?”

 

Peter knew, in that moment, that Nell Caffrey would be a thorn in his side for as long as she could get away with it, and he was just going to have to deal with it. “Yes, but not while he’s eating. You better have come here for a reason.”

 

“Of course I did. I think I found out who the Dutchman might be.” She pulled a file out of her purse and slid it across the table. Well, at least she was prepared.

 

***

 

Nell had ‘date night’ at least once a week with Mozzie. Of course, it wasn’t an actual date, Nell just called it that so people wouldn’t ask questions on why she was insistent on spending the night with him at least once every week. Peter, of course, after a whole year of constant looking for Nell, and her working for Peter for the past three months, knew that she didn’t go for guys. It was half the reason why Elijah didn’t feel weird about her clinging to them so much.

 

“Why do you and Mozzie have a date night? You’re not dating.”

 

Nell shrugged. She was sitting at the kitchen island, kicking her feet while she sat on her hands like a five year old, and Peter wondered if one of her parents ever made her do that to stop fidgeting as a kid. It made no noise, just movement, so Peter didn’t feel the need to discourage her if it kept her from going through their stuff.

 

She was walking Elijah through a complicated French recipe that he’d been having trouble with for the last three days.

 

“Mozzie is like my brother. I love him, but he’s not… maybe if I were into guys, we’d be together, but we’re not. He’s like my brother. I never had much family growing up, it’s nice to know that I can count on him to be there at least once a week, even for something as silly as watching movies and eating take out.”

 

Elijah frowned, that frown that said he was fretting over Nell again. The white collar division always teased Peter that he acted like he was Neal’s dad, but Peter is pretty sure that Elijah would  _ actually _ adopt her in a heartbeat if the opportunity presented itself. “Sweetheart, watching movies isn’t silly, it’s nice. Comforting.”

 

Nell shook her head, looking amused. “No, but it is. We watch the worst movies we can find. That’s the whole point of it. It’s not  _ important _ like planning a con or something. The point, is that no matter how silly it is, he comes, and he has fun too. It’s why it’s important. It’s that we’re not just associates working a job together, we’re siblings.”

 

Peter couldn’t help but think she was too sweet sometimes. When she wasn’t being an absolute brat. If this is what being a parent is like, he’s sort of glad him and Elijah can’t make a baby on accident.

 

Though, he can see why it would be rewarding.

 

***

 

Nell was a strong willed girl. It’s why Peter hadn’t been able to convince her not to cut her anklet and run when Kate had called. Nell had a weakness, and it was true love. Or, at least, what she thought true love was.

 

Nell hadn’t been in many relationships before her, and Peter can see why she threw herself so whole heartedly into this one. Hell, Kate was the entire reason Nell was in this mess to begin with. She was why Nell got caught, and she was why Nell got four more years.

 

Peter had always thought of Kate as a manipulative woman who needed to back off before she hurt someone, but now they knew she wasn’t the one pulling the strings, and she was just as in over her head as Nell had been. Peter actually regrets not having helped her too, though Nell and Kate were probably too different for that to have worked for both of them.

 

It wasn’t until he was holding back Nell as she sobbed and tried to get out of his arms at the burning plane, that Peter truly felt a pang in his chest for the whole situation, feeling like a failure for leaving Kate be when he was so insistent that he could reform Nell, and feeling a  _ pain _ in his chest that he almost thought was a heart attack for a second, as the woman he was starting to think of as his daughter, cried.

 

Some things were going to have to change.

**Author's Note:**

> gayestblogthesite.tumblr.com


End file.
